How to Keep Your Career Resolutions2:27

The start of the new year is a good time to keep your career resolutions. Small business expert Susan Solovic joins WSJ's Tanya Rivero with tips on how to do this. Photo: Getty

January 9th 2015

3 years ago

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Sean Hall suffered burnout so severe it changed his life.Source:Supplied

WHEN is a good time to rethink your career? For one Australian entrepreneur, it was when he found himself wandering around David Jones not knowing how he got there.

That was around the same time he noticed he was shaking like a leaf during a casual conversation with a friend.

Sean Hall was the archetypal high-flyer. He was a senior executive in brand strategy and marketing for one of the country’s best-known companies. But something was wrong.

“I’d achieved and exceeded every goal,” he told news.com.au. “But in doing that, I burnt out.

“I’d leave work at 2am and be back at 6am. I was managing a massive transformation project involving 300 people.

“I didn’t feel successful any more because I was spread so thin, it affected my confidence. I really lost my sense of identity and mojo.

“It was in my head. I lost confidence to the point where if I went to a meeting, I choked. You want to speak but the words won’t come out, it’s anxiety — people won’t want to listen.

“I found myself wandering around the menswear department at David Jones not knowing how I got there. I felt like I was on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown.”

Sean had a high-flying job, but he was stressed, unhappy and lacking in confidence.Source:Supplied

Sean turned his analytical skills to investigating what was happening to him and realised he needed to tackle two problems: his mental and his physical wellbeing. He spoke to health experts and the most successful company directors he had worked with over the years, and did his own research on how to maximise his own energy.

He noticed that many companies are now in the habit of “downsizing and downsizing until you are doing someone else’s job as well as yours and feel as though you can’t say no or admit you are struggling, for fear of damaging your reputation.”

Having worked in fitness during his first career, Sean knew his energy was affected by his physical health, but hadn’t been acting on that knowledge. He says we need to ask ourselves the tough questions: “Do we love what we do and do we have great relationships with ourselves and others? Do we create space to do things that give us energy?”

Ever the businessman, Sean also wanted to know whether it was truly in a company’s financial interest to prevent employee burnout. “If a business was treating people like this, were they adding value? Am I collateral damage, is the business succeeding?

“The answer was no. It impacts the economy, the cost to Australian business is $56 billion if employees are not engaged. The cost of stress is another $10 billion. It’s not working.”

These days, Sean is a completely different person. He’s energised, he’s lost 11 kilograms and he feels happier and more vital.

By overhauling his life, he found happiness, vitality and a sense of purpose.Source:Supplied

Empowered by his discoveries about his health, the 40-year-old quit the corporate world and started his own performance coaching company. Energx helps Australians struggling with burnout to identify the “energy demons” sapping their strength and rethink their lives.

“When you spend time with family, you feel energised. When you don’t, you feel guilty and it depletes you,” he offers by way of example. “What makes you happy?

“We give people practical ways to make decisions about stuff that energises them and to perform better in any part of their lives. We look at people as individuals and take a holistic approach.

“People need to hear it’s OK not to be the best. Business success is really driven by people.”

Research from Curtin University and think tank Making Work Absolutely Human (mwah) shows that almost a third of Australians are dissatisfied with their pay and working hours.

The report, Happy workers: How satisfied are Australians at work?, also reveals that higher education doesn’t provide higher workplace happiness and that the further you live from the city, the happier you are.

Gen Y and X were found to be the least happy, and people over 70 the age group happiest with their jobs. Men were less happy at work than women. Workers in Tasmania were the country’s happiest, Western Australia and Victoria the least happy.

Report author associate professor Rebecca Cassells from Curtin Business School said the results showed which working conditions that are likely to bring the most job satisfaction.

“Australians who work for themselves or in small businesses, in the not-for-profit or government sector and workers that can do some of their work from home each week are more likely to be satisfied in their jobs,” Associate Professor Cassells said.

“The trade-off between happiness with certain aspects of a job and dissatisfaction with others is evident. It’s unlikely that any job will deliver everything that is needed to be happy at work, but certain things can help.”

More pay doesn’t always equal happiness — especially when it comes to flexibility and security.Source:Supplied

SEVEN SYMPTOMS OF AN ENERGY CRISIS

How can you tell if you’re in danger of burnout at work? Sean believes if some of these symptoms are present and the severity increases over time, you may be vulnerable:

1. Unhappy physically

2. Feeling unfulfilled

3. Lack of direction

4. Negative self-talk

5. Poor sleep quality — not waking refreshed

6. Easily stressed

7. Feeling disconnected, isolated or lonely

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Sean’s advice to people experiencing these symptoms above is to try not to judge yourself for where you are today and instead focus on starting to make small positive changes to be kind to yourself. Five to start you off: